24. The Medieval Bishops of Winchester: Estate, Archive and Administration

The bishops of Winchester were amongst the wealthiest and most powerful lords of medieval England, a position remarked upon by a number of contemporary writers.

They possessed a vast estate of nearly 60 manors, half of which were located in Hampshire, which generated both great wealth and a voluminous archive. These records, in particular the Winchester pipe rolls, reveal how the bishops managed their land and the various sources of their income. They reveal too something of the lives of the peasantry who lived and worked on the bishop's estate and who contributed so much to the revenues collected from it.

This paper draws together many of the themes which historians of the Winchester estate have been studying over recent years.